


The McAvoy Family

by mackenziemchale



Category: The Newsroom (US TV)
Genre: Charlie McAvoy - Freeform, Collection of one shots, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Family Fluff, Fluff, Mac as a Mom, Post S3, Post Series, The McAvoy Family, Trick or Treating w their kids, Will & Mac as parents, Will as a Dad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:42:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25512280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mackenziemchale/pseuds/mackenziemchale
Summary: This is going to be a collection of one shots of Will & Mac as parents. Stories will probably range between Charlie being a baby to a teen.
Relationships: Will McAvoy/MacKenzie McHale
Comments: 22
Kudos: 17





	1. Grocery Run

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve had ideas for shorter one shots, especially ones where Will & Mac are parents for awhile now and I wasn’t sure if I was going to upload them because I was afraid of how short they would be. Then I came across mettespo’s collection called “Charlie” which inspired me to put all the ideas I have into a little collection as well.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Walking down the aisle of the supermarket, Will looks to his wife who had a grocery list in her hand, “what do we need?” he asks.

“A whole lot more than I originally thought,” she answers as her eyes scan over the long list of items. Their fridge was practically empty, it was hard to do the shopping when both of them were working all of the time. Usually Mac would take Charlie with her and do it all over the weekend but for the past week and a half they had gotten swamped and groceries were put on the back burner. Will had finally decided he had enough when he tried looking for something to eat that wasn’t takeout and found nothing. Now they were standing in the supermarket with a laundry list of items and not a single shopping cart or basket in front of them. 

Will turns behind him to where his ten year old daughter and seven year old son were standing. They weren’t going to leave the kids at the apartment so this was a family event. “Charlie can you go get your mom and I a cart?”

“Get what?”

“You know, a cart, the thing you push around your groceries in,” Will answers and points to a woman not far from them pushing her own shopping cart. At first Will just thought she didn’t hear him but the confusion on her face told him otherwise.

Charlie glances over and the confusion quickly fades, “oh a trolley,” she replies.

“It’s called a cart.”

Shrugging, the ten year old begins walking toward the front of the store where all of the other shopping carts were, “whatever you say dad.”

Turning back to Mac, Will gives her a small but playful glare.

“What? I can’t help if our daughter picks up words from me,” she holds back a laugh at his glare.

There had always been the noticeable difference in what they called words. Although Mac has been living in the United States for quite some time now, she still held on to a lot of British English words. She called the elevator a lift, the bathroom was the loo, french fries were chips, biscuits were scones, sometimes the apartment was their flat, and gas was petrol. 

Will knew most of the words by now but still slipped up every now and then, bringing her actual potato chips before instead of fries. The biggest trip up was talking about the weather, he spoke in fahrenheit while she still spoke in celsius. Mac liked to poke fun at how Americans were one of the only ones that didn’t use celsius and that he still didn’t have the conversions memorized. 

Now their daughter was speaking like her, and sometimes she sounded like her. Charlie could never say the word “water” without an accent. They were close to being twins and he had to admit, that was pretty adorable. 

When Charlie returns, he takes control of the cart while Mac leads the way down through the aisles, having to deny Alex each time he grabbed sweets and tried putting them in the carts. Mac was a stickler on making sure sweets were kept to a minimum in the household, she wanted to make sure they were staying as healthy as they could but definitely didn’t forbid sweets. 

As they walk down the aisle that was basically the emporium of sweets, Alex grabs a package of Oreos and looks desperately at both of his parents, mostly at his mom. “Can I pleaseeee get Oreos pleaseeeeee?” He begs with the biggest pouty eyes he can give. 

Mackenzie looks over at Will as she feels her willpower breaking, she had a difficult time saying no to her son’s pouty face. The blue eyes he got from Will mixed with his overall adorable face was especially hard to say no to.

“Oh just let the kid have his Oreos,” Will replies.

Turning back Mac finally gives in, “alright you can have your Oreos,” she then holds out her hand for the cookies in which he happily hands them over. 

“Thank you mom!!”

Smiling, Mac tousles her son’s blonde hair before placing the package into the cart.

Charlie chimes in right at that moment, “does this mean I can pick something out too?”

Letting out a small sigh of defeat Mac nods, “yes but only a couple things, we’ve had enough grease and salt in our systems for the past week and a half, no need to add a pound of sugar on top of that.”

“Thanks mom!!” Charlie squeals happily before taking off down the aisle to find herself the perfect snacks to hoard until the next time they come to the store.

Mac smiles and shakes her head as she watches Charlie go, it was as if she had given her permission to go on a date with someone she really liked or something.

Upon turning back to Will she notices him giving her a greedy look, like he wanted in on the fun too. Laughing Mac nods, “you too mister, go pick out what you want.”

“Wow it’s Christmas!” He exclaims before he himself takes off down the aisle, leaving it to be just Mac and Alex.

Mac swore she had never seen him move that fast before, especially given his age and worn out joints. She was pretty sure he hadn’t even moved that fast when he came home to her half naked for some  _ much  _ needed alone time while the kids were with Leona and Rebecca a few weeks ago. Well, okay maybe that one was a lie, she just hadn’t seen him move that fast in awhile. Let alone for food.

Looking down at their seven year old son, Mac smiles, “well at least you knew what you wanted.”

“Oreos are my favorite” Alex responds.

“Oh I know they are sweetie,” she replies and presses a kiss to his head.

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Upon arriving at home, both kids ran off to their rooms to do their own thing while Mackenzie and Will were hauling the groceries up to the apartment and to the kitchen.

“I’m surprised we didn’t break the bank with all these groceries we bought,” Mac says as she carries three bags over to the kitchen counter.

Will chuckles as he sets at least four down with the rest of the large pile that was still there, “maybe we should tell Leona to start shopping for us so we’re not relying on takeout for a week and a half.”

It was a mix of people that helped take care of the kids when they were busy working. Mac and Will could handle trading off taking them to school, but a lot of the time it was Leona picking them up. She loved their children as if they were her own grandchildren, since it was clear Reese was never going to give her any. 

Leona would pick them up and sometimes take them back to the apartment, but more often than not the kids were with them in the newsroom. It was Charlie’s second home and both her and Alex were practically raised there. Charlie could lead her brother around and get from Mac’s office to Will’s with no issue. They’d both go between spending time with their parents to being with Jim or Sloan, or Don.

“I don’t mind doing the shopping, we just got swamped and it kept slipping my mind. Besides, Leona does enough for us to begin with.”

Will couldn’t argue with that one so he continues helping her put away the hoard of groceries. A couple minutes pass before he says, “you know the whole thing with Charlie sounding like you… it’s actually really cute.”

“Yeah?” Mac asks as she puts the kids’ snacks away into the cabinet.

Placing the milk in the fridge Will nods, “I don’t think I’ve ever said it before,” he closes the fridge, “but I’ve always had a thing for your accent.”

She laughs, “we’ve been married for eleven years and known each other for a lot longer and I’m just now hearing about this?”

Will walks over to where she just finished unpacking another bag, “what can I say? gotta keep this relationship interesting.”

“Are you saying we’ve already turned into a boring, old married couple?” Mack asks as he steps closer.

“Mm, no, but I need to keep you on your toes somehow.”

She smiles as his arms come around her waist, “so you like my accent then hmm?”

He nods, “I like the way you say schedule or how you use words like rubbish and I would have to say I particularly like how my nickname sounds only when you say it.”

Mac found it interesting that he liked all of those things, she never really thought he paid any attention to it. “You know I find it funny how Americans spent so long ridding themselves of Great Britain, only to turn around all these years later and have some sort of obsession with us and our accents,” she points out.

“You’re American too, honey.”

She shrugs, “either way, it’s quite funny. I’m sure everyone who fought in the Revolutionary War is turning over in their graves because of it.”

“Maybe but I think they still take pride in the fact that we got what we wanted. We still won and-”

His words are cut off by her pulling him in for a kiss, deciding that was the only way she’d get him to shut up before he went off on a tangent. Mac kisses him slow for a few seconds before pulling away.

“Shutting me up with kisses are we?”

“It always works doesn’t it?”

Will doesn’t say anything but instead pulls her in for another kiss, making this one more drawn out than the last.

They didn’t hear Charlie walk in when she did, “hey mom…” the ten year old stops in her tracks at the sight of her parents making out in the kitchen and quickly covers her eyes, “ew! never mind I think I need to bleach my eyes.” With that Charlie turns back around and leaves the kitchen as fast as her short legs will take her.

Mac and Will break apart at her exclamation but don’t even get a word in before their daughter has disappeared out of the room. Charlie's reaction only makes both of them laugh before pulling away and finishing up putting away the groceries. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tbh, as someone from the usa, I’ve always found it funny how we fought for so long to be free of Great Britain and then we turned around years later & a lot of Americans love the U.K. along with the various accents everyone there has 😂
> 
> And of course, feel free to leave any feedback or leave a kudos if you’d like! Thank you for reading and until next time ❤️


	2. Braids

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will was hesitant, he didn’t have a clue how to braid hair. He kind of knew the basic concept from watching Mac do it to Charlie’s hair many times before but he didn’t actually know how to make it look good. But saying no to his daughter was impossible, especially when her pouty face was the spitting image of Mackenzie’s. Charlie was nearly her twin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick reminder: the chapters aren’t connected and as the description says, this is a collection of McAvoy family one shots :)
> 
> For Leanne & AL ❤️

Will stares at the page of a random book he picked up half an hour ago, lost in his own thoughts and not at all reading. He was sitting in the living room of his and Mackenzie’s apartment, trying to keep himself busy while she was in her office in a virtual meeting. Truth be told, Will didn’t know how to occupy himself without her there. He liked to read or watch a television show or movie here and there, but he spent so much of his time with Mackenzie that he was bored out of his mind without her. Will never thought he’d be one of those people that can’t last more than ten minutes without their partner, but he couldn’t help it, he simply preferred having her around. They were still their own people and he would never deny her going out for a fun trip with Sloan or something along those lines, but he always counted down the minutes until she was back.

He glances down at the watch secured around his wrist and sighs as he sees that it was only 2:30pm, remembering how Mac said the meeting would be until 3:00pm. His attempt at reading seemed to be failing and there wasn’t really anything else Will wanted to do. Now he was starting to consider staring at the wall for the next half hour.

He wasn’t completely alone, he had their daughter— Charlotte, but the three year old was off in her own little world in her room dedicated to all of her toys having the time of her life. 

So Will was left waiting with a book, trying to get his mind to focus on anything other than the clock ticking on his wrist and another on the wall across from the chair he was lounging in. 

It takes him another ten minutes, but he actually begins to read the book he was holding and starts to find an interest in it. It was then that his reading was interrupted by the sound of his three year old’s sweet voice, “daddy?”

Will glances away from his book and down at the small child before him. His face instantly lights up and he gives her a smile, “hi princess, whatcha need?”

Charlie was dressed in a denim strap dress with a long sleeved white shirt underneath that had flowers all over it, she was absolutely adorable. She gives her dad a pout, “mommy say she can’t braid my hair.”

“Awe sweetie, mommy’s busy right now. Do you really need your hair braided this instant?”

Charlie nods and keeps her pout, “will you daddy? Pleaseeeee?” Her pout turns from that to batting her eyelashes and giving the biggest puppy dog eyes she can manage.

Will was hesitant, he didn’t have a clue how to braid hair. He kind of knew the basic concept from watching Mac do it to Charlie’s hair many times before but he didn’t actually know how to make it look good. But saying no to his daughter was impossible, especially when her pouty face was the spitting image of Mackenzie’s. Charlie was nearly her twin. 

He gives in without another thought, “okay princess,” he nods, “daddy will braid your hair.” Will then scoots forward and scoops up his daughter, placing her down on his knee.

She squeals of joy, “thank you daddy!!”

Will just smiles and shakes his head then stares down at her shoulder length brunette locks, wondering what the hell he just got himself into. 

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⠀⠀  
Mac lets a sigh of relief fall from her lips as she steps out of her office half an hour later. The meeting only went on for an hour but with the way the executive she had been talking with was speaking, his voice never going outside a monotone level, made her brain feel fried at the current moment. 

She rests her hand on her very noticeable and prominent baby bump as she goes down the stairs to find how Will was holding up. He tried to not be obvious about it, but she knew that he hated being apart from her. It was sweet, but some days she really needed a precious hour or two away from him. However, today was not one of those days. She felt like she had been gone all day long and maybe it was a mix of the monotonous voice the executive from the meeting had, the exhaustion weighing on her shoulders, and her tendency to get easily irritated from being five months pregnant that made her feel this way. Whatever it was, Mac knew that she was ready to curl up on the couch with her husband and maybe fall asleep while he talked some nonsense about politics or musical theatre.

The sight she walked in on when arriving downstairs and walking into their living room was one she had not been expecting. Charlie was sitting in Will’s lap as he (very obviously) struggled to do her hair. 

“What’s going on here?” Mac poses the question as she walks over to them.

“Daddy’s braiding my hair!” The three year old gives a wide toothy grin to her mother, making her heart melt.

Mac smiles wide and presses a kiss to her daughter’s head when she reaches her then peers back to see what mess Will had made. 

Charlie’s brunette locks were twisted and turned in different directions and only two strands of hair were turned together instead of the usual three. Will had discovered very quickly that he had no clue how difficult braiding was, that and his hands were much too big for this. He kept fumbling with every move he made.

Mac glances up at him and squints, “how long have you been at this?”

“Oh… twenty minutes, give or take a few.”

Somehow Charlie hadn’t noticed that he was doing a terrible job and he still wasn’t done. Then again, she didn’t quite grasp the concept of time yet and would probably sit with him another hour while he continued to struggle. She was just happy her dad was doing this for her.

Holding in a laugh, Mac steps back, “would you like me to fix it?”

“No no, Charlie asked me to do it. I can do it,” Will insists as he twists two strands of her hair, knowing he was doing this absolutely wrong.

Mac raises her brows then nods, “alright if you insist,” she steps back from him and Charlie and starts making way to the kitchen for a snack, “I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me.”

“Wait” Will insists before she can make it two steps away from the chair.

“Yes?”

“Okay maybe it would be nice if you… helped me detangle all of this and guide me through it.”

Mac holds back a witty remark and nods, “alright I can do that.”

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⠀⠀  
It took all of ten minutes to detangle Charlie’s hair and show Will how to properly braid it once Mac stepped in. He fumbled a little at the beginning but eventually he caught on to the rhythm of doing it and finally made a nice little braid for her.

Charlie was ecstatic when it was done and gave Will a giant hug. Mac watched as he melted and she herself melted at the sight of their little girl loving him so much. That was a sight and a feeling she wouldn’t trade for the world. 

After her hair was done, Charlie disappeared back into her toy room and that left Will and Mac retiring to the couch. 

He was sitting with his back against the beige cushions while Mac laid her head on his shoulder, her eyes briefly falling closed before opening again, “mm.. it was awfully sweet of you to do Charlie’s hair for her.”

Will’s fingers were grazing along her arm slowly and he shrugs, “she’s my little girl. I’d do anything for her.”

As if her heart hadn’t been through enough melting and bursting tonight, she could just feel it overflowing again. There was something about Will, a man who didn’t care about very many people besides her, loving their daughter with his entire being that made Mac dissolve into a puddle.

She grabs his hand and presses a few kisses to it before giving it a tight squeeze.

Will smiles and adds “plus, it’s hard to say no to her and her pouty face. She definitely got that from you.”

A chuckle comes from Mac and she pulls herself up to look at him for a moment, “she learned from the best.” She knew she couldn’t even attempt to deny the pouty face and eyelash batting she used on him often. 

He laughs this time and brings his lips to hers in a quick peck, “by the way I meant to ask, how did the meeting go?”

Mac sighs as she settles back down but this time more on her side and her head was resting on his chest instead of his shoulder, “it was boring. This baby is making me very easily irritated,” she complains.

One of his hands rests on her stomach as soon as she says that, “I’m sorry honey, is there anything I can do?”

Now her eyes were falling closed again as she held one his hand and his other gently caressed her baby bump. She’d forgotten for a brief moment that she was utterly exhausted, but that was nothing new. “Just… start talking to me about whatever you want. I just wanna hear your voice,” Mac insists.

Will does just that, he starts talking which leads to rambling about something to do with some show on Broadway. Mac wasn’t really sure, she tuned out what he was actually saying almost instantly and focused in on just the sound of his voice and how comforting it was to her. She snuggles further into him and finally drifts off, getting the wish she had hoped for during the entirety of her meeting: falling asleep in her husband’s arms while he rambled about some nonsense.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Something short and sweet for you guys. I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you for taking the time to read this.
> 
> As always, feel free to leave a comment/feedback or a kudos if you’d like. Until next time ❤️


	3. Trick or Treat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will wasn’t sure if he could recall ever really enjoying Halloween. Maybe as a kid on the rare occasions that he could dress up and go trick or treating with his siblings for fun, but other than that not really.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Halloween is just around the corner so I thought why not write a little one shot of the McAvoy family trick or treating? 
> 
> Enjoy 💛

“Why do you subject me to this torture?” Will complains as he stands in the mirror and puts the finishing touches on his costume.

“Oh quit complaining,” Mac insists as she steps out of the bathroom, having just finished with the touches of her makeup.

“Why are we even dressing up anyway?” 

“For Charlie and Alex,” Mac reminds him as she presses a hand to his bicep and has him turn toward her so she can help with the final touches.

“Charlie is four and Alex is one, it’s not like they’re going to remember it anyway. Can’t we just skip Halloween this year?”

“Stop being such a sourpuss, William. I want to have a little fun with my family and that’s what we’re going to do.”

Will looks at her like a wounded dog, “ouch, you know I hate it when you call me that.”

She arches a brow, “then stop complaining and just enjoy the next hour we have off with our kids before we have to go back to work.”

“I’m not going on the air like this am I?” he teases.

Mac turns with him toward the mirror and adjusts her skirt, they were dressed as Mary Poppins and Bert, and she had to admit she rather liked him in this costume. “I think it would be a nice break from the suit and tie you usually wear,” she teases back.

“Okay but only if you wear the Mary Poppins outfit the entire time too,” he insists.

“You have yourself a deal,” she smiles, turns, and sticks her hand out to shake.

Will smiles and shakes his head then shakes her hand back, knowing they were both just messing around. He was however starting to warm up to the idea of being dressed up for the holiday.

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Will wasn’t sure if he could recall ever really enjoying Halloween. Maybe as a kid on the rare occasions that he could dress up and go trick or treating with his siblings for fun, but other than that not really. He had always been tasked with being the chaperone as he got older to take his siblings trick or treating and that was when his dislike for the holiday set in. He associated it with having to do work rather than have fun and get candy for himself. He did like the candy part, he didn’t have a major sweet tooth but there were certain candy’s like Reese cups or Skittles that he always enjoyed getting. The News Night staff liked throwing Halloween parties every year once Mac came around and though he never participated in dressing up, he did always attend the parties just for the hell of it. Every year Mac nagged at him for not dressing up but once they got married that turned around. While pregnant with Charlie, Mac went for one of those pregnancy costumes, it wasn’t anything cheesy, just a simple orange dress that had a pumpkin face right where her baby bump was, like the baby was the pumpkin. She also insisted he dress up with her, nothing elaborate, just a shirt that matched with her pumpkin dress.

He had enjoyed that Halloween, and now every year since Charlie was born, Mac insisted on doing some sort of dressing up. They brought Charlie along to the Halloween party the first three years of her life, neither of them really going out with the dressing up except for with Charlie’s costumes. This year was the first year they dressed up as a family since Charlie was old enough to know about Halloween, so Mac wanted to make it special.

Mac never really celebrated Halloween in the same way that Americans did when she was a kid. Growing up in England, they didn’t do trick or treating when she was young, Halloween was celebrated but the bigger celebration was on Bonfire Night on November 5th. Then as she got older, treat or treating became more popular but by then, she’d missed out. Maybe that's why she made a big deal out of the holiday now that she had kids to take trick or treating, to see what she missed out on. Trick or treating is the main event for children when it comes to Halloween anyway.

“How long are we doing this for?” Will complains as he holds Charlie’s hand and follows behind Mackenzie while she carries Alex.

Alex and Charlie were dressed as Jane and Michael Banks and Will had to admit they were absolutely adorable in their costumes. What made it even better was Charlie kept talking in a british accent, which she was pretty good at since sometimes her words came out in an accent already. She sounded like a tinier and higher-pitched Mackenzie and it was heart melting. 

“Will, if you don’t stop complaining then I’m throwing out all of my skirts and dresses that make my legs look good.” Mac threatens as she glances back at Will for a second, thankful the kids were oblivious to what they were talking about.

Her threat seems to shut him up immediately and they move on to the next apartment, where Will knocks for the kids and lets Charlie exclaim, “trick or treat!”

The door swings open to a woman who appeared to be in her sixties and she smiles down at Charlie, “why aren’t you the cutest little Jane Banks in all of Manhattan?”

Will smiles down at Charlie as she holds out the little pumpkin bucket she had to collect her candy. “Thank you,” she smiles as the older woman places a handful of candy in her bucket.

She then looks up at Mackenzie and notices Alex in her arms, “and my who do we have here? Little Michael Banks? Aren’t you just the sweetest? Give me just one second, I’ve got something for the little ones too.”

“Oh no, no that’s alright, he’s only one. There aren’t really any candies he’s had yet,” Mac insists.

But the older woman was persistent, “no no, it’s not a problem I’ve got something for the little ones. I’ll be right back,” she then disappears into her apartment to retrieve the item she was talking about.

Mac glances over at Will, a bit concerned, they hadn’t fed Alex any candy yet. Except chocolate, but even that was in very small bites for his safety, 

“If it’s anything he can’t have we’ll just give it to Charlie, he won't know any different,” Will insists in a whisper so that the older woman couldn’t hear.

Mac nods and turns back to the door just in time to see the older woman returning, but not with candy. Instead she was holding two small teddy bears, “here, one for little Jane Banks,” she says and places the teddy bear in Charlie’s basket. “And one for little Michael Banks,” she says, holding the teddy bear out to Alex with a warm, grandmotherly smile. 

Alex squeaks happily as he takes the teddy bear and hugs it tightly. Mac and Will just smile at their child’s delight to have a simple stuffed bear. “Now what do we say to the nice woman who gave you the bears kiddos?” Will aks.

“Thank you!” Charlie smiles wide.

“Fank you!” Alex chimes in just after, with an equally adorable smile.

“You’re quite welcome kiddos,” the woman smiles. She then looks over at Will, “say aren’t you the news anchor, Will McAvoy? I almost didn’t recognize you dressed as Bert.”

Will smiles and nods, “that’s me, but for now I’m just Will McAvoy, the dad and husband.”

The woman nods, “I love your show. I won’t keep you four any longer, have a nice time trick or treating.”

“Thank you, and thank you again for the bears for the kids, that was awfully kind,” he replies and starts guiding Charlie toward the next apartment as Mac begins leading the way again.

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“After this last apartment, I was thinking we should take the kids with us over to the newsroom,” Will says as he walks side by side with Mackenzie down the last hallway for the night. They had gone down several hallways in the last hour and Charlie’s bucket was already nearly filled to the top.

“Really?” she looks over at him as he carries Alex, who had fallen asleep about ten minutes ago. 

“Yeah I mean if you’re up with letting them stay in your office with you while I do the show. I’m sure Alex will sleep the entire time.” Will glances down at Alex as he slept on Will’s shoulder, his small mouth slightly agape. “Plus Charlie loves it there,” he adds.

Mac nods, “it would be nice to spend more time with both of them…” she considers for a moment, “okay yeah, I’ll call Sophie and tell her we don’t need her for the night once we get back to the apartment.” Mac was desperate to get out of this Mary Poppins costume, as much as she loved the character and enjoyed dressing up as a family, she was ready to be back in her normal clothes.

Once they reach the last apartment in the hallway, Will and Charlie do the routine of him knocking and her cheerily saying in her adorable british accent, “trick or treat!” Mac smiles at her daughter, still not over how cute she was. Then again, that’s how she felt most of the time about Charlie.

When the door opens it's hard to keep her smile from fading when Mac sees who was standing on the other side of the door. Just their luck, all the apartment doors they knocked on tonight, they had to knock on Nina Howard’s.

“Will…” his name comes from Nina’s mouth first because she immediately spots him despite the ridiculous costume he was in.

He masks the shock he felt, she wasn’t who he was expecting to open the door. “Nina…” Will nods and puts on a polite front, he had no idea that Nina lived in this apartment complex too. This was the first time he’d ever seen her here, so she must’ve recently moved in.

Nina’s eyes dart over to Mackenzie who was desperately trying to shield her annoyance that she had to be seeing Nina at this moment. “Mac…”

Mac just nods too, leaving their interaction as short as possible, “Nina.”

Finally Nina looks down at Charlie, who was absolutely clueless but desperate for candy as if she didn’t have a bucket full. “Trick or treat!” she repeats.

“Right,” Nina states and reaches over for the bowl full of candy by her door, giving a handful of it to Charlie, “there you go sweetheart.”

“Thank you!” Charlie smiles, her bucket now nearly overflowing with candy.

Nina looks back at Will and Mackenzie, “well, it was nice seeing you guys.”

Her comment sat awkwardly with both of them, and Mac shifted quietly in her stance, not knowing what to say and hoping Will would instead. She certainly wasn’t going to say it was nice seeing Nina, because it really wasn’t.

The awkward silence is painful even though it only lasts for a few short seconds before Will replies, “nice seeing you too.” He then turns and follows Mac as she begins leading back down the hallway toward the elevator, already trying to erase that interaction from his mind.

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At the newsroom, Mac brings Alex and Charlie down to see everyone before heading up to her office. Alex had awoken from his nap sometime while they changed at the apartment before getting to the newsroom, so he was awake and slightly grumpy while being passed from person to person that wanted to see him.

Charlie was starting to get a little grumpy too but she was happy to see everyone. She especially loved seeing Sloan when Mac took her over to her office. ‘Auntie Sloan’ as Charlie liked to call her had to be her favorite, and part of that was probably because Sloan did all of the cool aunt things. She bought gifts Charlie (and Alex too) loved and whenever Mackenzie and Will let Sloan and Don babysit, they always did a bunch of fun activities and they let Charlie break a few of the rules her parents had.

By the time they got through spending time with anyone that wanted to see them, Alex and Charlie were worn out. Alex in particular had fallen asleep again, prompting Mac to put him back in his stroller and let him rest. Charlie on the other hand, was still up but starting to get cranky. She usually would be gearing up for bed by now, so Mac couldn’t blame her.

Entering her office, after giving Will a parting kiss and having wished him a good show, Mac pushes Alex’s stroller over toward her desk. “Charlie, why don’t you get settled down in one of those chairs?”

She places her binder down on her desk then walks around to the back of Alex’s stroller, pulling out two blankets. She covers Alex with the smaller one and tucks him in under it. Mac then brings a hand to his chubby cheek and rubs her thumb gently across it, kissing his forehead a moment later. “Mummy loves you so much,” she whispers.

Pulling back from Alex, Mackenzie walks over to Charlie who had settled down in the chair closest to her desk. Mac unfolds the blanket and lays it over her daughter’s lap before turning to her desk for a moment and turning on the television on the wall across from where Charlie was sitting. She automatically turns on Nickelodeon, knowing it was one of Charlie’s favorite channels. “If you want any snacks just let me know,” Mac says softly, trying to be as quiet as she can with Alex asleep.

She kisses Charlotte on the top of her head then finally retires at her desk, pulling up ACN’s website and the livestream link that Neal recently put in so that viewers could watch through the website if needed. Mac slides on her headphones and begins to work as she listens to Will start the show, keeping an eye on both Alex and Charlie as much as she can.

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Will makes it into Mackenzie’s office at around 9:15pm, walking in to spot Charlie asleep in a chair near Mac’s desk covered in a blanket. Alex was near-by and closer to Mac’s desk, still asleep. Mac however was still wide awake, typing away at her keyboard as she finished the last line of a memo she’d been working on. 

“You wore them out,” he jokes as he steps in.

Mac looks over at Charlie, who fell asleep about halfway through the show she’d been watching, then she looks back at Will, “what can I say? I have that effect sometimes,” she jokes back.

“You ready to go?”

“Yeah let me just…” she presses the period button on her keyboard and smiles, “there, done. Let’s go home because I am in much need of some relaxation.” Mac grabs her binder and her purse, throwing it over her shoulder before walking over to Alex’s stroller.

“I’m right there with you,” Will then approaches Charlie in the chair, “I’ve got her,” he states and lifts her up, letting her rest her head down on his shoulder.

Mac grabs the blanket as it falls off of Charlie and quickly tucks in the back of Alex’s stroller before she follows Will out of her office.

It takes a little while for them to get settled once they’re home. Upon arriving, Mac slides out of her heels then immediately makes way for Alex’s bedroom to get him in his crib. Will does the same, taking Charlie to her room and getting her all tucked in, glad that Mac had the brilliant idea of letting her wear her pajamas to the newsroom with them. That was one less thing he had to worry about while he got her to bed.

After the kids are tucked in for bed and both of them have made their rounds in kissing them goodnight, Mackenzie and Will retire to their bedroom finally ready to settle into bed themselves.

Mac was last to bed as she usually was. Having to take off her makeup and wash her face usually took longer than Will’s simple change into pajama pants and a t-shirt. She finally steps out of the bathroom and walks over to the bed, noticing the pumpkin bucket that Charlie had been using earlier while trick or treating sitting in Will’s lap right away.

“Will! Are you stealing our daughter’s candy?” He was peering down into the bucket and had a hand deep in it as he sorted through the candy.

He looks up, and the look on his face was as if he’d been caught red-handed doing something illegal. Will slowly draws his hand out of the bucket, letting go of the candy he’d been holding, “no…”

Mac purses her lips as she slides into bed, “you’re awful,” she remarks.

“Hey come on… she’s never gonna notice. Besides, I can buy her an entire candy aisle at the store if she really wants it.”

“You will do no such thing.”

Will then picks up the bucket and starts to hold it out toward Mac, “come on, pick something out. Charlie’s not gonna know and she’ll never eat all of this anyway.”

Glancing over at him with a semi-stern look, she gives in when he nudges her and gestures to the bucket. “Okay… I suppose a Tootsie Pop would be nice.” Mac shifts her attention back to the bucket and reaches in, pulling out a cherry Tootsie Pop, just as she wanted.

“See? Not even a dent in the pile.”

“Okay okay… but you only get one thing. If I get one, you only get one, that’s the rule,” she insists.

Will nods, “okay fine.” Stealing the bucket back, Will pulls out a small bag of Skittles.

“There, that’s all.” Mac takes the bucket back and then places it on her bedside table.

Turning back and scooting closer to Will, she shifts her attention to the television as he turns it on, “so what are we watching tonight?”

“I was thinking  _ Nightmare on Elm Street _ ,” Will says as he starts to get Netflix pulled up.

“Okay, since it’s Halloween, I won’t object but you can’t laugh when I hide my face in your chest,” Mac insists. Usually she wasn’t one for horror movies, she didn’t completely hate them but she much preferred movies where she wasn’t constantly on the edge of her seat waiting for the next jumpscare. 

“Okay, it’s a deal.”

Mac nods and scoots in a little closer as he puts his arm around her, pressing play on the movie. She slides one of her legs in between his and the other under, intertwining their legs together. She also rests one hand down on his upper thigh and uses the other to hold the Tootsie Pop every now and then. 

“You know we never talked about seeing Nina earlier,” he says softly.

Mac shrugs, “it definitely was… weird to see her. But, ever since she stopped bothering us and you broke up with her, I haven’t thought much about her. We’ve been pretty busy with our own life,” she explains.

They were always busy. Two kids, working all the time, and finding the time for their own social lives and their marriage, it was all very time consuming.

“I’m glad we’re on the same page then,” he nods. It was good that seeing Nina was only just awkward for them but didn’t leave any lasting thoughts on their minds. They were past her and had been for quite some time.

Will then begins to trace his hand lightly along her side as the movie starts, smiling to himself as he hears her hum as she relaxes into him. Maybe this holiday wasn’t so bad after all, especially when he got to spend it with the people he loved the most.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so someone from the UK will have to correct me if I’m wrong on what I wrote about Halloween. I did some research and some people said trick or treating became more popular by the 2000’s. And that Bonfire Night was a bigger deal (at least during the time that Mac would’ve been a kid) than Halloween. 
> 
> Either way I hope you enjoyed this story. Thank you for reading it.
> 
> Feel free to leave a comment or a kudos if you’d like. Until next time 💛


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